Serbia

World Facts

Introduction

Background

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed in 1918; its name was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. Communist Partisans resisted the Axis occupation and division of Yugoslavia from 1941 to 1945 and fought nationalist opponents and collaborators as well. The military and political movement headed by Josip Broz "TITO" (Partisans) took full control of Yugoslavia when their domestic rivals and the occupiers were defeated in 1945. Although communists, TITO and his successors (Tito died in 1980) managed to steer their own path between the Warsaw Pact nations and the West for the next four and a half decades. In 1989, Slobodan MILOSEVIC became president of the Republic of Serbia and his ultranationalist calls for Serbian domination led to the violent breakup of Yugoslavia along ethnic lines. In 1991, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia declared independence, followed by Bosnia in 1992. The remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro declared a new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in April 1992 and under MILOSEVIC's leadership, Serbia led various military campaigns to unite ethnic Serbs in neighboring republics into a "Greater Serbia." These actions ultimately failed and, after international intervention, led to the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995.
MILOSEVIC retained control over Serbia and eventually became president of the FRY in 1997. In 1998, an ethnic Albanian insurgency in the formerly autonomous Serbian province of Kosovo provoked a Serbian counterinsurgency campaign that resulted in massacres and massive expulsions of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo. The MILOSEVIC government's rejection of a proposed international settlement led to NATO's bombing of Serbia in the spring of 1999. Serbian military and police forces withdrew from Kosovo in June 1999, and the UN Security Council authorized an interim UN administration and a NATO-led security force in Kosovo. FRY elections in late 2000 led to the ouster of MILOSEVIC and the installation of democratic government. In 2003, the FRY became the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, a loose federation of the two republics. Widespread violence predominantly targeting ethnic Serbs in Kosovo in March 2004 led to more intense calls to address Kosovo's status, and the UN began facilitating status talks in 2006. In June 2006, Montenegro seceded from the federation and declared itself an independent nation. Serbia subsequently gave notice that it was the successor state to the union of Serbia and Montenegro.
In February 2008, after nearly two years of inconclusive negotiations, Kosovo declared itself independent of Serbia - an action Serbia refuses to recognize. At Serbia's request, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in October 2008 sought an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on whether Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence was in accordance with international law. In a ruling considered unfavorable to Serbia, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion in July 2010 stating that international law did not prohibit declarations of independence. In late 2010, Serbia agreed to an EU-drafted UNGA Resolution acknowledging the ICJ's decision and calling for a new round of talks between Serbia and Kosovo, this time on practical issues rather than Kosovo's status. Serbia and Kosovo signed the first agreement of principles governing the normalization of relations between the two countries in April 2013 and are in the process of implementing its provisions. Prime Minister Aleksandar VUCIC, has promoted an ambitious goal of Serbia joining the EU by 2020. Under his leadership, in January 2014 Serbia opened formal negotiations for accession.

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and writetotal population: 98.1%male: 99.1%female: 97.2% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 14 yearsmale: 14 yearsfemale: 15 years (2014)

Mother's mean age at first birth

27.8 (2013 est.)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

total: 49.4%male: N/Afemale: N/A (2013 est.)

Government

Country name

conventional long form: Republic of Serbiaconventional short form: Serbialocal long form: Republika Srbijalocal short form: Srbijaformer: People's Republic of Serbia, Socialist Republic of Serbiaetymology: the origin of the name in uncertain, but seems to be related to the name of the West Slavic Sorbs who reside in the Lusatian region in present-day eastern Germany; by tradition, the Serbs migrated from that region to the Balkans in about the 6th century A.D.

Independence

5 June 2006 (from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro)

National holiday

National Day, 15 February (1835), the day the first constitution of the country was adopted

Constitution

history: many previous; latest adopted 30 September 2006, approved by referendum 28-29 October 2006, effective 8 November 2006amendments: proposed by at least one-third of deputies in the National Assembly, by the president of the republic, by the government, or by petition of at least 150,000 voters; passage of proposals and draft amendments each requires at least two-thirds majority vote in the Assembly; amendments to constitutional articles including the preamble, constitutional principles, and human and minority rights and freedoms also require a referendum with passage by simple majority vote (2016)

Legal system

civil law system

International law organization participation

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

Citizenship

citizenship by birth: nocitizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Serbiadual citizenship recognized: yesresidency requirement for naturalization: 3 years

Suffrage

18 years of age, 16 if employed; universal

Executive branch

chief of state: President Tomislav NIKOLIC (since 11 June 2012)head of government: Prime Minister Aleksandar VUCIC (since 27 April 2014)cabinet: Cabinet elected by the National Assemblyelections/appointments: president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 20 May 2012 (next to be held in 2017); prime minister elected by the National Assemblyelection results: Tomislav NIKOLIC elected president; percent of vote in second round - Tomislav NIKOLIC (SNS) 51.2%, Boris TADIC (NDS-Z) 48.8%

Legislative branch

description: unicameral National Assembly or Narodna Skupstina (250 seats; members directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by party list proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms)elections: last held on 24 April 2016 (next to be held by April 2020)election results: percent of vote by party/coalition - Serbia is Winning 48.2%, SPS-JS-ZS-KP 11.0%, SRS 8.1%, For a Just Serbia 6.0%, Enough is Enough 6.0%, Alliance for a Better Serbia 5.0%, Dveri-DSS 5.0%, SVM 1.5%, other 9.2%; seats by party/coalition Serbia is Winning 131, SPS-JS-ZS-KP 29, SRS 22, For a Just Serbia 16, Enough is Enough 16, Alliance for a Better Serbia 13, Dveri-DSS 13, SVM 4, other 6

Judicial branch

highest court(s): Supreme Court of Cassation (consists of more than 60 judges organized into 3- and 5-member panels for criminal, civil, and administrative cases); Constitutional Court (consists of 15 judges)judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court justices proposed by the High Judicial Council (HJC), an 11-member body of which 7 are judges, and elected by the National Assembly; Constitutional Court judges appointed - 5 each by the National Assembly, the president, and the Supreme Court of Cassation; judges of both courts appointed to permanent tenure by the HJCsubordinate courts: appellate courts, higher courts, and municipal and district courts; courts of special jurisdiction include the Administrative Court, Appellate Commercial Court, and 2 levels of misdemeanor courtsnote: in 2003, specialized panels on war crimes were established within the Serbian court system; the panels have jurisdiction over alleged violations of the Basic Criminal Code and crimes against humanity, international law, and criminal acts as defined by the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Political parties and leaders

Alliance for a Better Serbia - coalition includes LDP, LSV, SDS
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians or SVM [Istvan PASZTOR]
Communist Party or KP [Josip Joska BROZ]
Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina [Petar KUNTIC]
Democratic Party or DS [Dragan SUTANOVAC]
Democratic Party of Serbia or DSS [Milos Jovanovic]
Dveri [Bosko OBRADOVIC]
Enough of Enough [Sasa RADULOVIC]
For a Just Serbia - coalition includes DS, NS, RS, DSVH, VVS, Together for Sumadija
Greens of Serbia or ZS [Ivan KARIC]
League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina or LSV [Nenad CANAK]
Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Cedomir JOVANOVIC]
Movement of Socialists or PS [Aleksandar VULIN]
New Serbia or NS [Velimir ILIC]
Party for Democratic Action or PDD [Riza HALIMI]
Party of Democratic Action of the Sandzak or SDA [Sulejman UGLJANIN]
Party of United Pensioners of Serbia or PUPS [Milan KRKOBABIC]
Reformist Party or RS [Aleksandar VISNJIC]
Serbia is Winning - coalition includes SNS, SDPS, PUPS, NS, SPO, PS, PSS, NDSS, SNP
Serbian People's Party or SNP [Nenad POPOVIC]
Serbian Progressive Party or SNS [Aleksandar VUCIC]
Serbian Radical Party or SRS [Vojislav SESELJ]
Serbian Renewal Movement or SPO [Vuk DRASKOVIC]
Social Democratic Party or SDS [Boris TADIC]
Social Democratic Party of Serbia or SDPS [Rasim LJAJIC]
Socialist Party of Serbia or SPS [Ivica DACIC]
Strength of Serbia or PSS [Bogoljub KARIC]
Together for Serbia or ZZS [Dusan PETROVIC]
Together for Sumadija [Veroljub STEVANOVIC]note: as of April 2016, Serbia had 111 registered political parties and citizens' associations

Flag description

three equal horizontal stripes of red (top), blue, and white - the Pan-Slav colors representing freedom and revolutionary ideals; charged with the coat of arms of Serbia shifted slightly to the hoist side; the principal field of the coat of arms represents the Serbian state and displays a white two-headed eagle on a red shield; a smaller red shield on the eagle represents the Serbian nation, and is divided into four quarters by a white cross; interpretations vary as to the meaning and origin of the white, curved symbols resembling firesteels or Cyrillic "C's" in each quarter; a royal crown surmounts the coat of armsnote: the Pan-Slav colors were inspired by the 19th-century flag of Russia

National symbol(s)

double-headed eagle; national colors: red, blue, white

National anthem

name: "Boze pravde" (God of Justice)lyrics/music: Jovan DORDEVIC/Davorin JENKOnote: adopted 1904; song originally written as part of a play in 1872 and has been used as an anthem by the Serbian people throughout the 20th and 21st centuries

Economy

Economy - overview

Serbia has a transitional economy largely dominated by market forces, but the state sector remains significant in certain areas and many institutional reforms are needed. The economy relies on manufacturing and exports, driven largely by foreign investmen

After former Federal Yugoslav President MILOSEVIC was ousted in September 2000, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition government implemented stabilization measures and embarked on a market reform program. Serbia renewed its membership in the

High unemployment and stagnant household incomes are ongoing political and economic problems. Structural economic reforms needed to ensure the country's long-term prosperity have largely stalled since the onset of the global financial crisis. Growing budg

Major challenges ahead include: high unemployment rates and the need for job creation; high government expenditures for salaries, pensions, healthcare, and unemployment benefits; a growing need for new government borrowing; rising public and private forei

Unemployment rate

Population below poverty line

Distribution of family income - Gini index

Budget

revenues: $16.2 billionexpenditures: $17.08 billionnote: this is the consolidated budget, including both central government and local goverment budgets (2016 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

42.9% of GDP (2016 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-2.3% of GDP (2016 est.)

Public debt

78.5% of GDP (2016 est.)
77% of GDP (2015 est.)note: data cover general government debt, and includes debt instruments issued or owned by government entities other than the treasury (for which the Government of Singapore issued guarantees); the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data i

Telephones - fixed lines

Telephones - mobile cellular

Telephone system

general assessment: replacements of, and upgrades to, telecommunications equipment damaged during the 1999 war resulted in a modern digitalized telecommunications systemdomestic: wireless service, available through multiple providers with national coverage, is growing very rapidly; best telecommunications services are centered in urban centers; 3G mobile network launched in 2007international: country code - 381 (2011)

Internet country code

.rs

Internet users

total: 4.688 millionpercent of population: 65.3% (July 2015 est.)

Transportation

National air transport system

number of registered air carriers: 2inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 21annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 2,424,886annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 2.748 million mt-km (2015)

Military expenditures

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international

Serbia with several other states protest the US and other states' recognition of Kosovo's declaration of its status as a sovereign and independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; several thousand NATO-led Kosovo Force peacekeepers under UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo authority continue to keep the peace within Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo; Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute